Material handling apparatus



May 5, 1931. J, SPRY 1,804,287

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed July 25. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 l r4 41 AA."

INVENTOR 2m Wap@ BY Mmv.

`ATTORNEY May 5; 1931. J. w. sPRY 1,304,287

Y MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed July 25. 1929 3 sheets-sheet 2 ATTORN EY Ywwv.

May 5, 1931. J. w. sPRY 1,804,287

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS y Filed July 25, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .ATTORNEY Patented May 5, 1931 S'TE @FENCE JOHN W. SPRY, OF DALLAS, TEXAS MATERIAL HANDLNG APPARATUS This invention relates to material transfer, and is more particularly concerned With means for conveying and transferring loose material from one depository such as a jfreight car, barge, etc., to another, which may be a similar transporting medium or a truck, for example.

An object of the invention is the provision of a mobile unithaving material Gathering 10. and conveying means depending therefrom and distributing and releading means to Which lthe gathered material is conveyed,

With provision for adapting the ymaterial gathering means to differentials invarea and llocations of the material in the particular depository.

Another object is the provision of means for progressively moving the gathering means along the material area at selected speeds best conforming to the removal rate and bulk of material. f

A further object is the provision of ya support for the mobile unit providing for bodily adjustment of the support and unit in a vertical direction. AThis in combination with provision for independent vertical adjustment of the material gathering means Will permit the apparatus towbe adapted to a Wide range of variations in the elevations of discharging and receiving depositories for the material being handled.

These and other objects and features including provision for feeding material from opposite sides toward an intermedia-te material gathering point, and for adapting the feeding means to varying Widths of depositories Willbe more clearly apparent from the follow-ing detailed specification which is to be read in conjunction With the accom-r panying drawings forming part thereof and in Which- Y Figure l isa View in side elevation of the material handling apparatus of the present invention as adapted for operation from above With reference removal and distribution by conveyance of material in a freight car therebeneath.

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section on the line 2-2 of the apparatus shown in 5s f'Figure 1. f

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus, and

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional detail of the lateral feeding means for moving the material to the area of operation of the elevating conveyer.

As previously stated the apparatus is supported above the .material to be handled. This material may, for example, be carried in a barge or other type of open top depository and the elevated support of the apparatus will extend above 'the barge. For the purposes of illustration, I have shown the material as deposited in an open top freight car and the material handling apparatus as mounted upon a traclrway elevated above the car. ln the drawings, Figures l and 2, l designates the rail bed uponr which the freight car 2 rests. posite sides of the rail bed and spaced from the rail thereof sul'liciently to provide clearance are mounted hydraulic aclrcylinders 3 which may, as shown, be supported upon concrete bases These cylinders Will be positioned in substantial vertical alinement with the four corners of a rectangular elevated tracliway indicated at 5 and formed of metal stringers 5 extending ylongitudinally of and parallel with the rails or rail bed l and mounting rails 6a upon their upper faces. These stringers are rigidly interconnected loy the end cross members 7 and have secured to and depending from their opposite ends the vertical supporting standards 8 reinforced at their point of connection thereto by gusset plates 9 and braced to the stringers by the diagonal tie plates l0 and connecting gussets ll. he standards S are of uniform length and may, as shown, be in the formof steel angles. Their lower ends are fixed to plates l2 upstanding from a suitably reinforced metal base` il which in turn is fixed to the upper end of Vthe plunger lll of the hydraulic jack cyL inder 3. Since these cylinders may be of any standard construction` suitable for this purpose, the details of their operating connections are omitted.

An elevated traclrway such as described is of course intended to extend over the At the opbarge or freight car whose contents are to be elevated and distributed. The length of the trackway v "l therefore he sufficient to cover the longitudinal storage area of the transport in which the material to be handled is deposited or carrielVL and its stringers G are, as shown, in vertical planes beyond the outer edges of t e rail bed l.

Mounted on the elevated traekway is a mobile material elevating and listributing unit presenting wheeled frame open between its sides above the car or transport 2 and mounting and having depending through the opening in the wheeled frame and through the opening between the stringere G, a material elevating conveyer end is designed to cont ct any material receiving s being provided at the upper en'l of this conveyor.

rllhe frame chassis ures 2 and vEl is of channel formation and comprises the stringer channels l5 joined at their ends to the transve se channel frame members 16 which exten transversely of the trackway to termina-Le adjacent the rail. 6a and which as shown in Figure 2 are provided with depending hangers l?, in which are journaled axles 18 mounting on their ends the wheels i9 resting upon the track 65o and giving the unit mobility. One axle is provided with a sprocket wheel 20, Figures l and 2, through which the wheeled frame is moved longitudinally of the trackway. At one side of the strmgers and ei;- tending laterally outward therefrom, an operators platform 2l is secured and adjacent the platform and between the stringers ei; tends a connecting bed plate 22 (Figure 3) upon which the motor 23 is mounted. Adjacent the opposite ends of the stringers, triangular frames upstand from the stringers l5 in transverse aline lient, these frames being, as shown, formed of angle irons 25 inclined upwardly toward each other, riveted at their lower ends to the stringers l5 and braced and connected at their upper ends by gussets 2e. Brackets 27 are secured to the top of these frames and provided with inwardly extending bifurcations 28 bet veen which are mounted guide rolls 29. it the opposite end of the stringers l5 from the angle irons 25, vertical angle bars 8O upstand to a point in ilinement with the upper ends of the angle irons 25, and are connected thereto by longitudinally extending angle bars 3l, shownk in Figure l. Mouned on the upper face of the angles 3l in transverse alinement are bearing bracket' 32 in which the ends of a counter-shaft are journaled, this shaft, shown in Figure l, being positioned between the angle irons 25., and the motor 23. A narrow channel plate SLL lross connects the bearing brackets and underlies the counter-shaft to furshown in Fignish support for the intermediate bearings 85, 36 (Figure The shaft 3S of the motor 23 extends outwardly beyond the line of the channels l5 to a point above the sprocket gear 20 of the axle shaft 18 at which point it is provided with a sprocket gear 239 connected by a sprocket chain 4.0 with the axle sprocket 20. Inwardly of the sprocket gear 39 a second sprocket gear il is mounted upon the motor shaft 38 and is connected by a sprocket chain 4t2 or other wrapping connector f'ith a driving sprocket (lligures l and mounted on the coun- Jler-shaft lil adjacent its bearing 3G. rllhis driving connection serves to transmit po ver from the motor shaft 38 through a friction clutch to a hoisting drum 45, loosely mounted on the shaft and held against movement in cable lowering direction by su able pawl and ratchet mechanism, the purpose of which as will be later seen is to maintain the conveyor and its housing in the position to which it is elevated through the drum and clutch.

rlhe end the motor shaft 38 opposite to the spreek gear 39 similarly projects outwardly beyond the channel stringers l5 and is provided with a second sprocket gear /lG thereon. The corresponding end of the counter shaft 83 similarly projects and mounts an alined sprocket gear 47 connected with the motor sprocket 426 through chain Arjacent the sprocket gear d'7 a frict'en clutch 29 connects the driven countershaft with a sprocket gear 50 from which a sprocket chain 5l extends upwardly to the driving spr cket gear 52 of a material elevating conveyor.

This conveyer is enclosed in a tubular housing 53 between the sides of which, at its open upper end, a driving shaft 5e extends and in which sides it is ournaled, this shaft extending outwardly beyond one face of the housing` and .mounting the sprocket gear 52 thereon. The housingI is provided on its opposite outer faces in line with the guide rollers 29, with a vertically extending trackway 55 in which the rollers extend to guide the conveyer housing for bodily vertical movement, the housing being supported by a cable 5G suitably attached as at 57 adjacent its lower end and extending to and winding on the hoisting drum 45 on the counter-shaft 38. At the lower end of the housing 53, bracket plates 58 depend from its sides and are vertically slotted and mount thereon vertically adjustable bearings 59 of standard construction to receive the lower shaft GO of the conveyer. This shaft mounts a pair of spaced sprocket gears 6l (shown in dotted lines in Figure 2) over which run the chains 62 upon which are mounted the buckets 63 of an endless conveyer. rlhe upper ends vof the chains 62 carrying the buckets run over and are positively driven by spaced sprocketwheels 64 mounted on the upper conveyer shaft 54. Preferably means are rovided to ermit sli iaG'e inr the conveyer drive in the event of over load. As shown in Figure 1, an adjustable spring tensioned clutch indicated at 65 is interposed between the conveyor shaft 54 and the driving sprocket 52 yielding under predetermined excess load. At one side of thel lower end ofthe conveyerhousing 53 and extending iny parallel with the conveyor sprocket haft 60 is a depending scoop plate 66 designed to hold material to be impacted by the descending buckets 63 as the wheeled frame and its depending` conveyer are moved longitudinally of the trackway, scooping alane in the material and continuously elevating it as the unit moves on its trackway. rlhe adjustable bearing 59 at the lower end of the conveyor is, obviously, for the purpose of taking up slack in the chain. Obviously, the lower end of the conveyer is initially adjusted to the height of the top level of the material to be excavated and is thereln order that the wheeled carriage mounting the conveyer may be moved at speeds consistent with the rate of removal of the material. and that the direction of movement of the conveyer may be reversed, a suitable changeable speed and reverse transmission designated generically at 67, Figure 2, is interposed on the motor shaft 38 between the driving sprocket for the fra-ine wheel and the motor. This locates the transmission adjacent to the operators platform 2l. rlhe transmission may conveniently be of the planetary type, pedal operated as in the case of the familiar planetary transmission of the Ford automobile, leaving the operators hand free for the operation of the levers 63 and 69 operating, respectively, the clutch 4f@ for the hoist 45 and the clutch 49 for the conveyor drive, these clutch connections being only generically shown, since any suitable standardized form of clutch control may be used.

l" 'll be obvious that the drive chain 51 l for theupper shaft of the conveyer extends from a fixed sprocket 50 on the COUnter-siaft of the conveyor shaft and housing.

'i of an arm 70 (Figure l) having a. hub 7l at its lower end journaled on a pin 72 outstanding from the face of the conveyer housings 53, and having on its upper end, an olfset mounting a roll 74 overlyingand engaging the inner face of the d iving chain 51. llVhen the conveyor, and its housing are lowered, the arm 70 will swing outwardly to the left and by its weight maintain the chain 5l under driving tension.

Provision for transferring the material elevated in the buckets 63 is made in the form of a downwardly inclined chute 75 which may form an integral or rigid extension from the open upper end of the conveyei' housing 53, this chute being joined at its lower end with reversely inclined distributing chutes 75, 27'? extending laterally of the wheeled fran e and downwardly to points beyond the edges of the trackway. A hinged gate 78 (Figure l) at the junction of the upper ends of the reversely inclined chute 75 selectively places this chute in communication in either distributing chute 76,.'77 and therefore may distribute the material elevated by the bucket conveyer to transports such as trucks or other freight cars positioned either side of the car 2 or other material holder which is being unloaded.

In order to adapt the conveyer tothe width area of the material to be elevated, as for example, the width of the freight car 2, means have been provided for gathering the material inwardly toward the conveyer buckets upon opposite sides of the convever and from the outer edges of this area, the means provided being in the form of gathering units driven from the lower conveyor shaft and variable in numberto include the full width of the storage area. These gathering units have in effect a screw action and are best seen in Figures l, 2 and in detail in Figure ll.

Referring to Figures 2 and 4, it will be seen that the lower conveyer shaft 60 extends outwardly and lies within the bearing brackets 58 and is threaded. On the opposite ends of this shaft and threading successively onto each other are series of bladed material gathering sleeves 85 having radially projecting blades 86 thereon inturned toward the conveyer, the successive bladed sleeves being quartered when arranged in a seiies of four as shown in Fig ure l so` that they form in eect an interrupted screw eective to gather materialv from the lateral outer extremities of the storage area of the freight car or barge inwardly toward the cent-er where the conveyer buckets scoopit up and elevate it for discharge downwardly in the chute 75. Each of these bla-ded sleeves are formed with intertting threaded sockets 87 and stems 78 providing male and female joints, the threads being such that the direct back pressure ofmaterial against the buckets in loading will tighten the bladed sleeves upon each other and upon the shaft 60 rather than loosen them. The bladed sleeves will be apthe units employed Will be determined by the transverse area of the car or other depository 2 Within Which the material i housed so that by the provision of thes bladed sleeves, the conveyor is made adaptable to variance in the transverse dimension of the storage area.

lt 'will be obvious that in the operation of elevating the material, the iovrcr end of the coi'iveyer will be initially positioned to engage the top strata top layer of material to be elevated i will be moved with the Wheeled frame fr of the car to the other with the coni: r operating to elevate the material; *will teen be reversed and lowered to take the nel. strata below and the saine operat' again performed until the contents of the car have been removed. The hoisting drum d5 Will, as previously described be provided With suitable means such as a psv-Jl and ratchet mechanism for holding the drum and the oonvoyer at the desired point until further downward adjustment is desired. The

Y'powerY hoist through its friction clutch 'is operative to elevate the conveyer and by slippage it is permitted to loiver to the de sired point at which it is held by the paWl and ratchet mechanism. rlhe oonveyer drive from the motor shaft being operated independently from the drive to the Wheel shaft of the conveyor truck, or Wheeled frame, permits independent operation of the wheeled frame and its conveyor housing for bodily movement lengthwise on the traclivvay in both directions Without interference with the operation of the conveyer.

lVhile the described construction represents a preferable embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious that it is subject to variation and change to meet requirements of manufacture and adaptation to different uses in consonance with the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In material handling apparatus, an elevated supporting frame, an endless conveyer depending from said frame to Contact material tobe elevated with its lower end and mounting a rotating conveyer operating shaft at its lower end, and a plurality of axially alined material gathering and feeding units secured to the opposite ends of said conveyer shaft and extending axially outward from the ends of said shaft, said units comprising hubs having interthreading male and female joints, and having material engaging Wings extending outwardly therefrom and formed to feed the material engaged laterally inward to said conveyer the threads of said hub joints being inclined to tighten by the thrust of material against said Wings.

2. ln material handling apparatus, a frame7 an endless conveyer depending from the frame to Contact material to be elevated With its lower end and mounting a rotating conveyer operating shaft at its lower end, and a plurality of axially aligned material gathering and feeding units secured to an end of the conveyer shaft and extending axially outward from the end of the shaft, the units comprising hubs having interthreading male and female joints and having material engaging Wings extending outwardly therefrom and formed to feed the material engaged laterally inward to the conveyer, the threads of the hub oints being inclined to tighten by the thrust of material against said Wings.

JOHN lV. SPRY. 

